Ochanya: Kogi CSOs, FIDA Call for Justice

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the Federation of International Women Lawyers in Kogi on Thursday demanded that nothing but justice be served in the case of Elizabeth Ochanya, a violated minor.

Thirteen-year-old Ochanya who died on October 18, was allegedly violated, molested, defiled, drugged and abused from age five to death by her 52-year-old uncle, Andrew Ogbuja, a lecturer in Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, and his son, Victor Ogbuja.

Our correspondent reports that the coalition of CSOs and FIDA in Kogi made the call at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) press Centre in Lokoja after a protest march from the state Specialist Hospital to the centre.

Mrs Eunice Agbogun, Vice chairman of Kogi Non-Governmental Organisations Network (KONGONET) said that the dastardly act of alleged rape of a minor, Ochanya by the Ogbujas called for global condemnation.

She added that the fact that their alleged act led to a medical condition where the victim developed Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF) disease which eventually claimed her life, cutting her off in her prime, made it worse.

Agbogun called on all well-meaning men and women to roundly condemn the act and demand that justice be served without delay even if one of the alleged culprits remained at large.

Mrs Christiana Adejumo, chairperson of Kogi chapter of FIDA, leading the protesters to the NUJ Press Centre, said FIDA was out to protect and promote the rights and interests of women and children and urged abused or violated girls and women to run to women lawyers .

Adejumo said Ochanya’s case lasted for five years because it was a crime of opportunism in the sense that the perpetrators felt that since they were living in the same house, they won’t be discovered.

Responding, Alhaji Adeiza Momoh-Jimoh, Chairman, Kogi Council of the NUJ welcomed the protesters and commended their effort at ensuring that such crimes and the perpetrators were brought to justice.

Momoh-Jimoh decried the rampant cases of rape in the country describing Ochanya’s case as one too many saying, “I know this is not the only case we have around, we got to know this because it was reported.

“We encourage parents to speak up when cases like this come so that people who are doing this will be brought to justice and the society will be better for it”, he said.